Cowden and Buhner (for Bart) at the same time?

My gut says Buhner has a stronger, exclusive protocol towards Bart...but I believe I've read that the Cowden Support Program claims to 'cover many of the bases': co-infections and lyme.

Buhner admits in his book that his protocol is not the only one out there that can be effective with arthropod borne infections. That he prefers the herbs he recommends but that there are others that can be added.

In my opinion there is nothing like a good experiment. If you feel like dropping some herbs, try it. But keep good track of your symptoms. Don't make too many changes at once or you will confound the results.

That being said, I don't think you have been treating long enough to address your infection. Bartonella sequesters into bone marrow and the endothelial tissues lining blood vessels and the heart. In my opinion it will take many months to years of subjecting these bacteria to antimicrobials before the load is decreased to a point where your immune system is able to take over.

And your immune system will only be able to function properly if it is healthy - that means healthy gut bacteria.

If you are eating conventional foods containing pesticides which preferentially kill probiotic gut bacteria, your immune system can not function optimally. Which is probably how we all got to the messes we are in, in the first place.

Thanks for these valuable nuggets. Especially the reasons for holding the course on Buhner.

Got it. Am on a good probiotic and started the GAPS diet last week, so I'm 'watching my gut'

CD, you sent me a link for Cowden that says which herb shouldn't be taken with other herbs, and I think Houttaynia was the only one that had a red flag.

So: I think what I'll do is take the Buhner herbs away from the Cowden herbs. Say an hour or so?

In his books, Buhner reiterates that all of the herbs in all of his protocols can be taken with all of the herbs of all other protocols.

Of course, if you're following the Cowden protocol, you'd need to be conscious of the incompatible herbs within the protocol and space your doses accordingly.